An occupational hazard in music criticism is the inevitable blurbology: over-hyphenated elevator pitches in favor of a new run of B-sides that “totally could have been A-sides” from a band seemingly defined by the number of genres it inhabits.

This was also the case in college. For example: someone mentions a group called, say, Dr. Pain and the Smooch of Death. “They’re pretty cool,” this person shrugs. (The shrug is always a warning sign.)

Read More “Das Mötørbike: How an imaginary band became a merciless send-up of genre-flogging” »

I recently came under fire for being too cruel to the new Gomez record. Specifically, I came under fire from City Lights editor Mike Riggs, who called me a “harsh motherfucker” and who really, really enjoys the song “Little Pieces,” which (he tells me) ran as intro/outro music to yet another episode of Grey’s Anatomy two weeks ago.

While I can’t explicitly tool on Riggs for watching Grey’s Anatomy, I can at least clarify my review. What made past albums from the Southport, U.K.-based indie-rollers special was the very personal glee that came through in even their higher-fi tunes. It always sounded as though they were gathered in some Big Pink-like hideaway, strumming mismatched patterns on a beat-up acoustic, allowing their dealer to sit in on bongos, &c. Their more produced material maintained that glee, got occasionally ethereal in a way that sideswiped Coldplay, and, for all its jangling and twangling, never lapsed into vapid Americana. Take a track from the first record—”Get Myself Arrested,” a little ditty about rock stardom and fast cardom:

Read More “In Defense of Disappointment:
Gomez’s A New Tide isn’t all bad” »

“Trying to show a link between rock stars and drugs is like trying to make a link between mouths and tooth decay,” writes R.U. Sirius—the nom de fume of 10 Zen Monkeys‘ Ken Goffman. This is but one of the many mangy comparisons that frontload Everybody Must Get Stoned: Rock Stars on Drugs*, and when you skim the book’s list-heavy 200+ pages, tooth decay starts to sound like an attractive alternative. OK, maybe that’s not entirely fair—there’s some funny writing amid the run-on analogies, and a few of the anecdotes are worth their weight in angel dust. Hell, it’d probably make a nice coffee table book, if you’re David Crosby.

To save you the buyer’s remorse, here are our favorite factoids, trivia, apocrypha, or whatever:

Read More “Ted Nugent is a Pussy: The CliffsNotes to Everybody Must Get Stoned” »

Dylan/Zimmy/Judas wasted no time after last October’s release of the sprawling retrospective, Tell Tale Signs: on April 28, Columbia will release his new studio album, Together Through Life, Billboard reports.

If label hype is any indicator—which, in this case, it sort of probably is—the record’s packed full of nostalgic, tumbleweed-y vignettes, Chi-town blues, and churning boogie. Plus: banjo, mando, and…accordion! Promo materials go on to explain that on his new record, Dylan’s aiming for a retro-minded fusion of Chess & Sun sounds. Which—correct me if I’m wrong—is what he’s been doing since about 1964.

Read More “New Dylan to Drop April 28; Weird Album Art Already Iconic” »

LOCAL RECORD BLOG MAKES GOOD!

As previously noted, the good people behind Record Store Day 2009 have tapped The Vinyl District to be their flagship blog for this year’s festivities. It’s a commendable move, and seems to have sparked a wave of gratitude over at TVD:

…[It is] an honor for this blog which attempts in a small way to champion the efforts of the brick and mortar record stores and of the medium in general that is: vinyl—to have been designated the blog of record for Record Store Day, 2009.

But it is you, dear reader, to whom we owe a significant debt of gratitude for turning this wee blog, first conceived in pajamas one morning into something the cup of coffee that day never imagined–the blog of record for records. Or something along those lines.

As a thank-you to said “dear reader[s],” TVD is starting eleven (11!!) weeks of vinyl giveaways leading up to the big day on April 18. Check out week one’s Swedish Invasion offerings.

Just heard that Junior League Band’s playing with Hoots & Hellmouth tomorrow night at the Black Cat. Mr. Zebulon Bowles, a rootsy chap from Atlanta, will join the band on (ahem) second fiddle. All of it sounds promising.

Here’s what we said before the last JLB concert:

Junior League Band has forged something rare among city-living ruralists: an authenticity that sidesteps revivalism. While founder/frontwoman Lissy Rosemont has a little Allison Krauss thing going on, Union Station this ain’t—the bass lines are fleshier, the humor richer, and the lyrics unapologetically intimate. The band is touring behind its 2008 self-release, Mitchell Williams Fo’ Govena, which ditches some of the pop on 2007’s Oh Dear! in favor of a more straightforward string-band approach. Don’t go looking for hoedowns just yet, though: Dulcet tracks like “Kiss You in the Morning” and the night-permeated “Smokies” do little to elevate the heart rate. Rosemont’s central confession is what captivates: That as much as she might like to quit the big city for the Appalachian circuit, she knows urban escape is no longer possible.

Deets below the jump:

Read More “January 23: Junior League Band at the Black Cat” »

Check out Pat Dinizio’s version of Buddy Holly’s “Words Of Love.” Does anyone else get a serious Chad & Jeremy vibe? I guess Holly + string section = softball British Invasion. (Duh.)

In any case, opening with this cut was a wise choice for the Smithereens frontman, since the album promptly swerves downhill: “That’ll Be The Day” comes across like subpar college a cappella, and “Peggy Sue” ditches the glorious propulsion in favor of ill-deployed strings. Good lord.

Still, this one’s sorta nice.

Check it out: More grainy tracks from the “We Are One” concert/love-in. As previously noted, Garth Brooks held the stage for what seemed like an eternity. I include his most palatable track below, since it’s usually a crowd-pleaser.

Garth Brooks on “American Pie”:

John Cougar Mellencamp on “Ain’t That America Pink Houses”:

U2 on “Pride (In the Name of Love)”:

Just returned from a spot of Indian food after the “We Are One” concert, where I collected some supremely lo-fi recordings of the hit-or-miss performances.  Garth Brooks got a lot of stagetime.  Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock got glossed over.  Will.i.am and Sheryl Crowe did some decent Marley with a sanitized “Where Is the Love” interlude.  My favorite performace, amazingly, was Bettye Lavette and (wait for it) Jon Bon Jovi on Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Also dug U2 more than I’d expected and found Pete Seeger a welcome presence.

First batch below.  More in a bit, plus a rundown of last night’s Mike Errico/Alfonso Velez/Sketches show at Jammin’ Java.

Springsteen, with gospel choir, on “The Rising”:

National anthem:

Lavette & Bon Jovi on “A Change Is Gonna Come”:

James Taylor & John Legend on “Shower the People”:

John Lee Hooker, Jr. has a simple plan for celebrating the inauguration.

“I’ll have a box of tissues here—no, a handkerchief—but I’ll be sitting on the couch, man, and relaxing and watching history be made.”

The son of the Boogie Man knows a thing or two about “change we can believe in.” After a precocious childhood on the Detroit blues circuit—and backing up his dad on tour and on wax—the would-be bluesman fell off the wagon, hard, and languished through broken relationships and crippling addiction for what he describes on his Web site as “many, many years.”

In 2004, though, he came back with a vengeance—Blues with a Vengeance, to be precise, the Grammy-nominated debut record that marked his return to the path of righteousness.

Now, with his ‘08 album All Odds Against Me he’s up for another Traditional Blues Grammy, and has crafted a new superhero persona for himself: Bluesman.

“Ever since I was a kid I always wanted to fight for truth and justice—fighting the pimps and rescuing the prostitutes and the damsels in distress,” Hooker Jr. said in a phone interview from his home in California. “Ironically, I got on the wrong side of justice. So I thought how fulfilling it would be for my dream to come true through animation.”*

[Video and more below the jump.]
Read More “Inauguration Radio Station: John Lee Hooker, Jr. Says “People Want a Change”” »